PLEASURE CRUISE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21993, 27 December 1934, Page 10

PLEASURE CRUISE

ORIENT LINER ARRIVES OVER 800 PASSENGERS FIRST VISIT TO DOMINION ' TOURS OF NORTH ISLAND In the course of a holiday cruise the 20,000-ton Orient liner Oronsav arrived at Auckland from Brisbane yesterday afternoon and was berthed without difficulty at Prince's Wharf. She brought nearly 850 passengers, the great majority of whom are Australians making their first visit to the Dominion. Ideal weather was experienced on the trip across the Tasman Sea at a speed of 18£ knots. Commodore C. G. Matheson, who is in command of the vesssl, described the passengers as a particularly happy company, and said the great success of the voyage so far augured well for the remainder of the journey and for future similar cruises.

The Oronsay, which is making her first visit to New Zealand, carries two classes of passengers, and on the present voyage there arc about 500 travelling in the first-class and 350 in the third-class. Some 30 "who joined the vessel at London are making the round voyage. The holiday cruise proper began at Fremantle on December 11, and thereafter large .additions to the company were made at Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Festive Entertainments The largest contingent joined at Sydney, where about 350 embarked. About 20 of the travellers are making Auckland their port of destination and another 20 are leaving at Wellington. Entertainments in keeping with the spirit of tho festive (season -were very thoroughly organised and entered into with great spirit and heartiness by the tourists. A carnival dance was held last Friday on the way from Sydney to Brisbane. After leaving Brisbane on Sunday passengers were entertained with the cinema and an orchestral concert. The chief events of Monday were a gymkhana in the morning and a race meeting in the evening. On Christmas Day nothing was lacking to ensure the happy celebration of the occasion "with all traditional circumstance. Children's parties, cocktail parties and dinner parties were numerous. Auction bridge and contract bridge tournaments are proving popular and the swimming pools, of which there is one for each class, are very well patronised.

Choices of Tours The tourists began their sightseeing at the earliest possible moment, and quickly set off in the taxis and special buses that were waiting for them. The New Zealand Government Tourist Bureau had three officers on board who joined the Oronsay at Sydney for the special purpose of assisting passengers to plan out their tours. Mr. D. R. Hughes, passenger manager in Sydney for the Orient Line, was also supervising all arrangements for the comfort of passengers. Four parties elected to travel overland by car to Wellington through Waitomo, Rotorua, Wairakei and Napier. Unfortunately all accommodation at the Chateau was booked or they might have called there. Another 30 passengers left by car last night for Waitomo and will return to-day by way of Rotorua. Another car load set off for Wellington, taking the route by Waitomo and New Plymouth. A special train leaving at 7.45 this morning will take 280 to Rotorua for the day, bringing them back to Auckland at 10.15 to-night. Yet another group of 70 will make the same trip by motor-car. The remainder of the company will be occupied with shorter sightseeing trips in the neighbourhood of Auckland. Open to the Public

This afternoon the Oronsav will be open for public inspection from 2.30 to 4.30 and the proceeds of the charge* for admission will be devoted to the Mayor's relief fund. The vessel will sail at midnight to-night for Wellington, where she is due at 9 a.m. on Saturday. At midnight on Saturday she will leave for Sydney. This is the first of such cruises to be undertaken by the Orient Company, and so popular has it proved in Australia that an officer stated yesterday that the available accommodation could have been booked twice over. All the accommodation on the second cruise, by the Otranto, which will leave Sydney at the end of January on a 13-days trip, has already been booked. She is due at Auckland on February 6. A feature of her voyage is that while on the Oronsay only about 30 are making the complete voyage from London and back, on the Otranto about 200 are doing so.